New kids, New deals, New Beginnings-High School
by Winged Beauty 16
Summary: When Annabeth's bestfriend Rachel gets her dream job and has to move to NYC, Annabeth thinks her life is over. Rachel leaves her alone with her all time crush, Luke, who is boyfriend to Thalia, leader of "Thalia's crew",who has tormented Annabeth since first grade. when the odds are slipping, Annabeth runs into a guy with a sexy voice. Will he make her life new again? All mortals
1. Sexy voice's rule all

**So sorry this took so long, but I think it's a great improvement. My new beta, AtlantaJackson95, did an amazing job on this! Go check out her stories and by the way, thanks to everyone that stuck with this story! Love you all!**

I stared at the kindergarten classroom—at the laughing crowd of kids and parents filling the room—yanking nervously on my pigtails.

"Well, Annabeth," my mom whispered to me. "Are you ready to start the first day of school?"

I bit my lip, too scared to speak, and shook my head.

I felt her kiss my cheek. "Its okay, Annabeth. Everything will be alright. I have faith in you"

I sighed, and decided to believe her. Then I stepped into the room, sealing my fate.

After a while, the teacher clapped her hands and called everyone into a circle. Still feeling shy, I sat down next to a girl with curly red hair and bright emerald green eyes. Immediately, she cut off her conversation and turned to me.

"Hi!" she waved enthusiastically. "I'm Rachel Elizabeth Dare, but people call me RED. What's your name?"

"Annabeth Chase," I mumbled, looking at the floor.

"Nice name, Annie."

"Not Annie," I say with determination,, _I hate when people call me Annie_. "Annabeth. Don't call me Annie. Ever"

"Okay, Annie," she said with a small, childish, smirk.

I clenched my teeth and was about to argue, but she went off onto a random tangent—something about babies.

I had a feeling we were going to be really good friends.

*LINEBREAK*

Last year, I'd been tugging on my pigtails. Now, it was my new dress, as I scanned the halls for Rachel on the first day of school.

Brown hair, blonde hair, black hair… Ah! Red hair!

And it was Rachel, talking to Juniper from the popular group. I ignored Juniper and ran for my best friend.

"Rachel!" I squealed, hugging her.

Rachel stumbled back in shock. She was about to hug me back, when I heard a disgusted snort behind me.

I turned around to see Juniper roll her eyes.

"Get lost, Annie," she sneered. "No one wants you here."

I waited for Rachel to protest, but she never did. She only said sorry later-as in a week later- and thought we were friends again, as if my feelings didn't matter.

*LINEBREAK*

Third grade.

It's been two years since I first became the object of torture for the popular crowd—dubbed now as "Thalia's Group''—because of that moment with Rachel and Juniper. I was glad for Rachel, since she'd always comfort me, but sometimes it wasn't enough.

At least things seemed to have died down this year, I thought.

But I'd spoken too soon. My Fate was once again sealed as a boy with spiky blonde hair and bright blue eyes hurried into the room.

He was obviously new, and late. Normally, this wouldn't catch my attention, but this boy intrigued me. I wasn't sure what it was, but I apparently wasn't the only one; Thalia was swooning over him as well. _Great_ I bitterly thought.

From then on, Thalia and I were sworn enemies, fighting for the same prize: Luke Castellan- the boy with the hair.

*LINEBREAK*

I screamed into my pillow, crying my eyes out. It was fifth grade, and Rachel was comforting me—again.

I wasn't upset because I'd lost the three-year battle for Luke. I'd given up on him a long time ago. It was all the teasing I'd been getting from everywhere.

But Rachel was comforting me, even if her eyes looked a little distant. . I had a feeling as to what that meant.

We would be friends forever.

Little did I know how short of a time "forever" was…

*LINEBREAK*

I bit into the pillow –poor pillow, it suffers from so much abuse-, struggling to keep a fresh wave of tears in. But it was impossible, and the sobbing very soon returned, and I wept as Rachel rubbed my back soothingly.

It was mom. Mom, who'd comforted me the first day of school. Mom, who'd taken me out to ice cream when everything else seemed like too much. Mom, the lady who always had faith in me.

Mom, Athene Chase, who was currently dying of colon cancer. I was only ten. That was too young to deal with that stress, that burden thinking it was my fault.

"Its okay, Annie," Rachel whispered. "It's okay. I'm not going anywhere."

I was too upset to notice, but there was a distant sound to her voice. Rachel had been getting sucked farther and farther into Thalia's Crew. She'd found her passion in acting, and excelled in it, and would be spending more and more time working towards her dream.

I thought my life was over. Ending. Gone. Kaput.

But it wasn't. All it took was an Angel for me to come back.

*LINEBREAK*

"Rachel!" I yelled, waving in the direction of my best friend as I hurried up to her.

Rachel turned around, and for a moment I thought I saw a flash of panic cross her bright green eyes.

But before I could be sure, it was gone.

"Hey, Annie!" she smirked at my frustrated expression as she used the nickname. "What's up?"

"Hey," I stumbled to a stop, panting for breath. "I was—I was wondering if you wanted to hang out after school today."

She bit her lip. "Sorry, Annabeth. I've got a play thing. "

She was lying. I could tell by the way she wouldn't meet my eyes. I knew her too well. And she could tell.

"It's really important, I could maybe get you front row seats to the actual thing?" She suggested, strengthen her lie, making it more and more unbelievable.

We still refused to lose each other. I was her rock, her fallback. She was my only friend. After mom died the beginning of this year—sixth grade—and dad had immediately remarried to Susan, I'd gone inward, and refused to make any new friends, so everyone else already had cliques. Things that I could never be a part of, with the burden of being the most hated by Thalia's Group.

I wanted to hate Susan. I really did. But she was just so kind. She had two sons, Matthew and Bobby, that I couldn't help adoring and feeling all big-sisterly around. There was no Cinderella in this story, I was the only bitter one in our relationship, even if I might love them.

But it still wasn't the same without mom. I'd been cast aside, despite their better intentions.

And this time, Rachel wasn't around to comfort me.

Forever isn't as long as we think…

*LINEBREAK*

Things continued the same way.

Rachel got parts in plays.

I fell behind.

Rachel rose to the top.

I fell lower.

Rachel's newfound beauty attracting multiple lovers.

I was still fantasizing over Luke, a taken man.

All was normal. At least, until Rachel got her dreams, and mine were crushed.

But, little did I know, that miracles come in Sexy voices…

*LINEBREAK*

I flinched as a paper ball hit me in the back of the head, and low, muffled laughter echoed from across the Goode High cafeteria. Ignoring it, I continued to read my Architecture book with one hand and poke the mystery meat on my tray with the other.

"Annie!" squealed a familiar voice.

Wincing at the evil nickname, I turned around to see Rachel headed straight for me.

Rachel Elizabeth Dare had been my best friend since kindergarten, when I sat down next to her in the introduction circle and she randomly started talking about babies. She'd always "dared" to be different. She had always known from the beginning that she wanted to be an actress, and she'd worked for it her whole life. Even now, as she raced towards me, I could see that her curly red hair flew out around her, and her outfit was covered in marker and paint. _Typical, an artist and an actress. _It wasn't as if I was bitter and resented her, I just wanted to be known for me, not "Rachel's loser friend."

Stumbling to a stop, Rachel waved a piece of paper in my face.

"Look, Annie! Look!" she practically screamed in her excitement.

Figuring she'd gotten a new necklace or bracelet or something like that, with her rich parents it wasn't uncommon, so I ignored the paper and the annoying nickname and scanned her up and down.

Not a hair out of place. I sighed in defeat.

When Rachel realized that I hadn't noticed anything, she huffed in annoyance, and slapped the paper against my face. I jumped when the cold sheet of white covered my vision.

Yanking Rachel's arm back so I could clearly see the paper—no, letter—I skimmed it, noticing only a few words.

But it was enough. It seemed that Rachel's dreams were going to come true.

"Amazing," I breathed, no other words able to form on my tongue.

She nodded eagerly, her red curls flying everywhere in her frantic, excited head bob. Her squeals erased any other lunch room noises from reaching me.

"I know!" she squealed again.

I grinned at her, feeling happy for my best friend, but a small seed of jealousy sprouted in my mind.

Actually, more than a "small" part. Why did everything always have to go in her favor? I mean, was I good enough for my dreams to come true as well?

I shook my head angrily. I should be happy, not jealous. My best friend was being casted for the role of Karla Parker, the star of what the New York Times was saying will be the best Broadway show since Annie.

But at the same time, that meant that Rachel would move from our small town in California to New York, and she would get to co-star with Tiger Beat's biggest hottie, Will Solace. She would get to live her dream, while I would be left alone to rot in my own personal Hades. It would mean that Rachel would become part of the perfect couple with my celebrity crush. It would mean that I would have to set aside my feelings for him. It would mean—

"I can't wait to go!" Rachel's shrieking interrupted my thoughts. "My mom already bought plane tickets! We're leaving tomorrow!"

There was a subtle click in my head as I took in what she said.

"G-gone?" I stuttered. "Tomorrow?"

As happy as I was for her, I didn't like the idea of losing her so soon. We may not have been that close anymore, but she was still my best friend.

"Yup!" her peppy voice made it clear that she didn't notice my worries. Rachel grinned and skipped off to Thalia Grace and the popular crew, the people that have tormented me since kindergarten.

Sighing, I turned back to my food, suddenly not as desperate as I had been before. I glanced over at Rachel, watching her perfect hair bounce and her laugh sound like an Angel's as she giggled with Thalia. Just looking at them giggle, laugh, and point at Luke Castellan, the hottest guy in school- and Thalia's boyfriend- made a jealous range burn inside of me.

I forced myself to look away and down at my lunch.

Suddenly, I felt sick to my stomach- the mystery meat taking its toll-and I scrambled out of the seat and into the hall, one hand over my mouth.

As I turned a corner, I ran into something warm and strong, and two arms wrapped around me before I could topple to the ground.

"Oh my God," a warm, sexy voice called frantically into my ear. "I'm so sorry! Are you alright?"

The voice filled me with a strange sense of peace, and I began to relax. But the nausea began to rebuild, and I shoved out of the boy's—I think it was a boy's—arms, stammering an apology, and raced away.

"Wait!" the voice shouted after me. "I don't even know your name!"

I ignored the boy and kept running, ignorant to the fact that I had just set up my own Cinderella story.

I ran. Past the halls. Past the whispers. Out of the school. Home. Past my gasping father and step-mother. Up the stairs. Into my bedroom.

Locking the door of my safe-haven, I toppled forward onto the comforter and—for the first time since my real mother's death—began to cry. Wet, hot tears fell down my face reminding me of all I have lost

I cried for ages. Horrible, heartbroken sobbing. My pillow grew quickly soaking, but I continued to cry.

The last thing I remember were the horrible tears and worried whispers outside my locked door before I fell asleep.

Normally, my dreams were deep and dark, and filled with horrible nightmares. But instead, tonight, they didn't haunt me with that. Instead, it was something equally scary.

Eyes. Two sea-green eyes. They simply stared at me. Never moving. Never blinking. Just boring into my soul, staring, staring, staring.

**Thanks for re-reading, Please review and, if you ever need to address me, feel free to call me FS16 or Evey (pronounced e-Vy) cause well if you are reading this that means I like you…**

**Lots of Love, Hope and Friendship,**

**Evey **


	2. Best friends? Or best fakes?

**A wonderful thanks to my beta, AtlantaJackson95, for making this chapter readable. Sorry this was delayed, I wrote the dream over tons of times. Enjoy**

A strange instinct to check my phone pulled me out of my lifeless, boring dream. Strange, because I'm not normally the girl to check her status before taking a single step in the morning, but I was in a good mood today-odd right?, and I had learned a long time ago to trust my instincts, so I slid out from bed and hurried over to the small black Android sitting quietly next to my alarm clock.

The little blue alert light wasn't blinking. No new messages.

Wait…

Why did I have this strange feeling that was a bad thing?

It hit me hard. Harder than a ton of bricks.

Rachel…

She left yesterday, and she didn't even leave a text message?!

Quickly, desperately, I unlocked the phone and scrolled through my messages, then my phone calls, then my messages again. There's gotta be something… There's gotta be something…

Nothing. I broke into a fresh wave of tears.

I don't know why it bothered me so much. Rachel had never really kept in contact with me much anymore. But it did. It did so much. So very, very, much.

Did she really care so little for me?

I felt a strong pain arise in my stomach, and I rushed to the bathroom.

Toppling down to the cold linoleum, I leaned over the toilet, waiting for the vomit that never came. But even without throwing up, I still felt like absolute shit.

I shivered there for a few more minutes before I stumbled up into a standing position and examined my face in the mirror. My eyes were bloodshot, and around them were dark, black and blue bags. My whole face was puffy and red from crying, and mucus was constantly dribbling down my upper lip.

Wait… was that dried snot line on my face?! EW!

Long story short, I looked hideous. Hideous, and sick.

Well, this day is going to go great, I thought sarcastically. If only I didn't have to go and face school…

Face school…

Face school...

Face… SCHOOL!

Because I was still looking in the mirror, I could clearly see a small, evil smirk creep up and rest across my face. If I did this… and then I do this… Perfect!

Sometimes I just love my unusually high I.Q.

I could convince my dad to let me stay home, and by default escape from "Thalia's Crew," the pain of missing Rachel, and the mysterious sexy voice!

Trying to hide my smirk, I stumbled my way down the stairs, making more noise than necessary as I slouched into the kitchen.

My dad stood there in his "kiss the cook" apron, a bit of batter in his sandy blond hair that was a little darker than mine, flipping pancakes. Susan was digging around in the fridge, most likely making lunches for my step-brothers, Bobby and Matthew. Speaking of the devils, they sat at the table too busy inhaling food to notice my entry.

I stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to do. I coughed once. Twice. Thrice.

They still ignored me. I blew my bangs frustratedly out of my eyes.

This was why I didn't belong in this family. I'm that extra fifth person that always has to sit in the chair when my family sits in a booth at restaurants. The one who can't fit into hugs. The ignored person.

But I used to belong. I remember the times when my mom was still alive. When she made me feel like the most important person in the world.

When my mom was still alive, I couldn't do anything without her or dad noticing. They knew what my footsteps sounded like and my breathing patterns and I knew theirs. We were one big happy family of three. Just the way I liked it.

But then mom died. And dad married the real Cinderella. Susan was young, pretty, nice, and overall a better person than me. She was sort of like my mom, and she sure as hell tried to be. But I was just too stubborn to change and—for lack of better words—was a bitch to her.

Sniffling at the memories and resemblance of Susan and mom, I tore my gaze off of my step-mother before I could begin crying like a baby. Then, as I was biting back tears, my dad finally noticed me.

Great timing!

"Annabeth?" my dad asked, worry tingeing his voice. "Sweetie, what's the matter? You look sick."

Susan shot him a look. Maybe it was for his bluntness. Maybe because of Rachel. I could never tell with her.

"Oh," Susan bit her lip and frowned my way. "Are you sad about Rachel?"

I nodded and—thinking about how my supposed best friend didn't even say goodbye—blinked back more tears.

"Honey," Susan said to—no, more like demanded of—my dad, "I think Annabeth should stay home today."

My father looked hesitant, but with a pleading look from me he finally gave in. (He was a hopeless cause when it came to Bambi eyes.)

"Fine," he sighed. "But Annabeth, you cannot miss school tomorrow. You know how important education is."

And with that, he turned off the burner and headed for his study—he was a World War II professor and valued education over love and life.

Susan sent the boys to grab their bags so she could take them to school, and I went back up to my room.

Once upstairs, I pulled my laptop out of its charger and sat it and myself weakly down onto the bed. As soon as I was logged in, I went to my email and composed a new one to send to Rachel. The little hopeful girl in me wanted her to say something like: Sorry. I slept in. I meant to say goodbye and miss you lots! But the likelihood of that was far into the negative numbers.

Slowly, with hesitant fingers, I typed:

Red,

I missed you this morning! Are you on the plane? Is it cool? Are you excited? Life will never be the same without you. School will be so annoying and all. How will I deal with Thalia and them without you?

And then I typed out a ton of other sappy things before I had around a page; or perhaps a novel—I could never really be sure, I went overboard when it came to writing. Satisfied, I scrolled over to click the send button.

Seconds later, I got a reply.

Annie,

Sry. I was w/ Thalia so I couldnt say bibi. Yes the jet is kool and ya, I mak a big impression on people. Tell Thalia hi.

-Rachel

I could feel the tears swell in my eyes. Though I'm not sure whether it was because of her bad grammar, spelling mistakes, short message, or the fact that she is friends with the people that have made my life a living hell.

But it had to be one of those choices because my Mac was now soaked. I bunched my sleeve up over my fist and wiped it off, hoping no damage was done to the computer.

Gathering my composure, I replied as kindly as I could.

Red,

How many times have I told you not to call me Annie? Yeah, that's nice and maybe I will if she stops making my life hell.

I tried to keep the message cheery, but the sour ending kind of ruined it.

After minutes and minutes of waiting for Rachel to reply with one of her witty remarks about calling me Annie, I finally gave up on thinking she would reply.

Tears pooling my eyes again, I fell back to the bed and sobbed into the pillow.

I'm not sure when I fell asleep, but when I did, I was haunted with a dream that might just change my life.

*dream*

I was falling.

Falling in darkness.

The kind of darkness where I couldn't move, and my limbs were frozen. For some odd reason, the area of my body where my appendix was was killing me.

Nothing. That was what was all around me. Nothing but black nothing.

I screamed, screeched, and cried, calling for help. But no one came to save me. No one. I was all alone. No one cared to come to save me from the Nothing.

Cold, wet tears cascaded down my face as I willingly gave in to the darkness, giving up all hope.

It was only then that I saw the eyes.

Rachel's emerald eyes, sparkling like they did every time she got a new role.

My mom's calculating grey eyes, resembling silk as you could watch her mind working.

My dad's blue eyes, still the baby blue color that my mom says she fell in love with in high school.

A strangely familiar pair of eyes I couldn't place—electric blue, full of laughter and love.

Lastly, were the scariest—wait, no, they were the most intriguing, prettiest—sea green eyes. Deep, covering up so much pain and neglect that it hurt. But these eyes seemed to tell a story without a sound or lip movement. One I could listen to forever.

I tried to get the eyes to notice me, but they still stared into the distance longingly. I tried to scream again, but found myself unable to form any sounds or noises. I desperately wanted to get those green eyes to look at me It was some unknown and unbearably strong desire; too strong to fight.

The green eyes turned. They turned, and it was like looking into nothing. I tried to ignore the agony of not seeing them clearly. It felt as if they were my lifeline.

I tried to make a single sound—even vomiting would be better than this sickly silence.

I looked down. Now truly giving up.

Then it happened.

The blackness sparkled, changing its form. The whole world was glowing.

The eyes! They appeared in all their sea green glory, looking like a hero; a leader guiding his army into a battle. They filled up the room with their love, hope, and compassion.

It clicked in my mind that these eyes—the eyes that hid all their pain and neglect for me—were showing me that there was hope—no matter what happened. A feeling that was so strong that even Hitler couldn't continue on as that evil came surging through my heart. And the evil feeling shrank back under the intensity of the gaze of those eyes.

And a voice began to accompany those eyes. The deep, raspy voice sent chills down my spine.

"Wise Girl," the whispering voice reverberated with fear and desperation. "You can't leave me. You can't go like your mom did. You can't. Please."

"Please," it begged, "Please."

**Please.**

A fierce desire to scream drove through me, pushing the evil to the edges of my soul. I opened my mouth and let out a fierce wail, uncaring of what I said. Only focused on making a noise.

And this time, my voice responded to my anger and desperation and hope.

"SEAWEED BRAIN!"

*dream*

I jolted upwards, the scream still bouncing around the walls of my room.

It had all felt so real. I could clearly remember the falling, the screaming, and the terrible feeling of giving up. As if I had been actually there.

But the details all swam hazily around my mind. What did I know? Why did I know it?

More importantly, what did those eyes mean?

**What did everyone think? Please tell me because this is really a learning process for me, so I would love some reviews. Does anyone know who's eyes were the electric blue? **

**Lots of Love, Hope and Friendship,**

**Evey **


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